Misa closed her Death Note after she shut off her television. She set her pen on her night stand and sat up on the bed, crisscrossing her legs. She held on to the notebook. Even having had the note for a while now, she still had an innumerable amount of questions about it, and about 'Shinigami.' It was all so interesting. She still wasn't entirely sure why it had been her to get that Death Note. She felt that she was destined to help Kira in his quest after learning about Kira's Shinigami, and after learning that Kira himself used a Death Note.

"So…" Misa looked down at her Death Note, then up at Rem. "A Shinigami can't go anywhere without their own Death Note, which means they have to have two to give one to a human. And Ryuk is Kira's Shinigami, and he tricked the king into giving him another one so he could have two?"

"Right."

"Is that what Rem did, too?" Misa asked Rem curiously.

"No," Rem said. "It isn't that easy to trick the King."

"Well, how did you get a second one?"

"I'm a Shinigami who is rarely seen in our own realm. One that knows how to kill other Shinigami, I mean."

"B-but… did you kill another Shinigami just to get this Death Note?"

"No. I just happened to run into a Shinigami who died. I can't kill them myself…"

Misa sat up straighter. "Will you tell me how to kill them??" she asked excitedly. "I bet Kira doesn't know how to, it'll give us something to talk about when I meet him!"

"Okay," Rem said. "But be careful of who you tell. The only way to kill a Shinigami is to make one fall in love with a human."

Misa looked confused. She thought for a moment, then said, "That's an awfully romantic way to kill someone…"

"Gelus was the Shinigami I witnessed the death of. He liked to watch one human girl; it was easy to tell he had fallen in love with her. After seeing him die, I figured out why my kind still die, even though we can extend our lives by using humans for compensation. Gelus kept watching that one girl, even on the day her life was supposed to end. He was in disbelief because of how young she was. I was interested, so I watched along with him. It was at night time in the human world; a stalker revealed himself to her from out of the darkness and told her that he was going to kill her and then himself. Out of love for the girl, Gelus did something Shinigami are never supposed to do. To save the girl's life, he wrote the stalker's name in his own Death Note. He saved the girl's life by making the stalker leave where she was, then die of a heart attack forty seconds later. The girl had no idea about this; all she ever knew was that the stalker had mysteriously given up on his goal to kill her, and just left. She had no idea that there was anyone or anything behind it.

"The reason for Shinigami is to shorten the lives of humans; extending them is completely absurd. So, Gelus died; he turned into a pile of sand and metallic rust that I'd never seen before. His Death Note was all that was left. Gelus failed his eternal mission by going directly against it to save that one girl."

"So…" Misa said slowly, "if he hadn't been in love with the girl, he wouldn't have died if he had killed that man?"

"Right. He didn't die because he killed the stalker; he died because he extended the life of the girl. When a Shinigami fails to do his job, he dies."

"So…" Misa hugged the notebook to her. "The one who saved me from the stalker was that Shinigami?"

"Correct. So, this Death Note belongs to you."

She lay back on her bed, smiling. "Now I have even more things to tell Kira-san! I just wish he'd give me a reply to my last message. Maybe I should do something else…."


The second Kira had taken his (or her, as Katherine had so far perceived it) next move without provocation from the investigation team or the real Kira. The team was reviewing the package he had sent this time, which was another video and a page of a diary (which, as Katherine said, made it more likely for the second Kira to be female). Katherine had taken the diary page from Matsuda to examine it when he was sent downstairs to wait for Light to get there. She had taken a particular interest in decoding the diary. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor with the page on the table in the room. There was a half smoked cigarette hanging out of the corner of her mouth, which was enough to keep her nerves calm for the moment. She'd been using an empty coffee cup on the table to flick ashes off in.

Staying calm was something she had always been able to do without help, so actually needed something to keep her calm was new to her. She didn't like it much. As it turned out, all the caffeine did was make her even more nervous and apprehensive. She didn't want to start smoking again, but she knew she'd have a breakdown if she didn't do something. She had her cell phone in one of her hands; she still hadn't gotten any word on Al yet, and she wasn't going to let the phone go until she did get some news.

Indeed, Katherine truly knew what was encoded in the diary message. One bit said "22nd, met with friend in Aoyama to exchange notes." That referred to one of two things; either the Death Note, or that the second Kira would be at a club called Note Blue that was holding a special event on the twenty-second. It also said "24th, went shopping with friends in Shibuya, bought some summer clothes." So, the twenty-fourth would be a time to monitor Shibuya, particularly around clothing stores. Then, it read "30th, saw reaper at the Giants game in the Tokyo Dome." That would mean it would be required to cancel the game on the thirtieth of that month. To her, the message was so straight-forward that it was amazing. No one else seemed to notice, or they just weren't going to mention it yet.

Matsuda returned with Light about five minutes later, and Katherine was forced to give up her hold on the diary entry. Before she spoke about her opinions, she decided to wait to hear everyone else's. Yagami handed Light the entry.

"Is this going to be aired?" Light asked.

"Look at the thirtieth," he said.

Light read the part about the thirtieth, then looked over the rest of the entry. After a few minutes, L spoke.

"What do you think, Light-kun?"

"Hmm?" Light said, looking over. "Well… right now, from this, I think he has to be an idiot."

"Yeah," Matsuda said in agreement. "If he wants the diary on TV, then it has to be a message to Kira. It's from last year, but the Giants are playing in the Tokyo Dome at the same time this year, so it's obvious he wants to meet Kira there."

"If this is shown of TV, then there will be panic," Yagami said. "The game may even be postponed."

"Yeah, there'll be real panic. The media will probably over exaggerate it and say that anyone who goes to the game will die."

"I agree with Light-kun," L said, taking a seat in a chair. "I think he's a real idiot. So much that I'm not sure how to deal with this. If we show the diary, the game will be canceled. If we don't, the second Kira won't move out of the shadows."

"And we might even anger the second Kira if we don't show it…" Matsuda said.

"I doubt that would be a problem," Katherine said, putting out her cigarette in a coffee cup. She put an elbow up on the table and rested her head on her hand. "This Kira worships the real Kira, and said in response to our 'real' Kira that she wouldn't hurt any more innocent people. I think we can hold her to that."

"We have to air the diary," L said. "Then, we have to cancel the game and have a perimeter set up around the game that day. The police officers who helped on the day the first Kira video was aired should be willing to help again. After that, we can just make another tape for an 'understood, see you there,' kind of reply."

"Do you really think they'd meet, knowing we'll be watching for them?" Yagami asked.

"The real Kira probably won't, but we might catch the second Kira."

"Honestly, I think she might be a little smarter than we all assumed," Katherine said. "The 'twenty-second' entry about Aoyama may hold some interesting significance. There's a club called Note Blue there that's holding some sort of special event on the twenty-second. In that message, it mentions a note and Aoyama. It might be a coincidence, but it's worth checking out."

"Then if you look at the twenty-fourth," L said, looking at the page, "it mentions Shibuya. We should have someone keep watch there."

"Particularly around clothing stores, as the message says 'went shopping for summer clothing.' We need to send some disguised investigators there on the specified dates."

"If Kira or the second Kira discover us, we'll be killed," Yagami said. "It's too dangerous."

"For the dome," L said, "we'll announce our actions ahead of time. That way, publicly stopping people to question them won't be a problem. If the second Kira is still stupid enough to show up with the place crawling with police, he'll be caught easily."

"Easily?" Matsuda said. "People will die in the process…"

"I think Ryuzaki is trying to say the second Kira won't be stupid enough to go to the dome," Yagami said.

"Right," L said. "And as for Aoyama and Shibuya, the second Kira wouldn't attack recklessly anyway. We shouldn't have any problem if our field agents just blend in as citizens. In case of finding anyone suspicious, report back immediately and don't act on your own. Someone like Asahi-san, whose eyes radiate justice and valor, definitely shouldn't go."

"I'll go," Katherine volunteered.

"The second Kira would recognize you," Yagami said.

She laughed. "And what would she be able to do to me?"

"Nothing, but he could kill whoever you're with," Light said. "That would be dangerous."

"I can go alone –"

"Wouldn't it be better for two or three of us to go?" Matsuda said.

"Probably…" Katherine said. "Ah! I can go in disguise. I've done a lot of my work on the case like that, I'm used to it, I like being on the battlefront, the base gets boring after a while, come on –"

"Alright," Yagami said.

"Yay!" she cheered.

"Okay, who else?"

"I can go," Matsuda said.

"I'll go, too," Light said. "I'll be fine," he added, seeing the look his father was giving him. "I go to Aoyama and Shibuya sometimes, I'll blend in. Besides, the second Kira will be too busy looking for Kira to notice me."

Yeah, meaning she'll be too busy looking for you Katherine thought, glaring at Light for a moment. You're so full of crap… I can't believe I'm the only person in this room that knows what you really are.

"As this could be a chance for the first and second Kira to meet," L said, "I'd like to increase security."

"What do you mean?" Aizawa said.

"Well, we obviously shouldn't give out any information about each other, but from this point forward, you should all avoid going out in public as police, and destroy all pictures that depict you as such, other than those that belong to you. I've never left behind any pictures of me, it would be a good idea for security purposes for you to do the same. So, please destroy any pictures in personal files and maybe pictures given to family and friends."

"Ryuzaki," Yagami said, "do you still suspect my son?"

"Since it's not zero percent, it's still possible. Precautions need to be taken in case the second Kira can kill just by seeing a face. We can't leave ourselves vulnerable, so we also have to catch the second Kira as soon as possible."


Light returned home later that night. He locked the door to his room behind him, then looked over his shoulder at Ryuk.

"I have some questions for you," he told Ryuk.

"Okay, like what?"

"Can two Shinigami talk to each other when they meet in the human world?"

"Hmmm… personally, I wouldn't without the permission of my human host first, it's just against my personality. But any other Shinigami may approach me and say hello."

"So if the fake Kira's Shinigami sees you, will he tell his human host who I am?"

"Probably not. It's up to him, though. But I won't tell you, either."

"That seems logical," Light said, sitting on the chair in front of the computer. "I should probably look for somewhere in Aoyama for us to meet…" he said. "Maybe that Note Blue place…"

"The one the girl was talking about?" Ryuk said.

"Yeah…" Light said, looking it up online. "She was right, they're holding an event that day. I wonder how she knew that… it would be strange if she was the second Kira. She keeps incriminating herself."

"How?"

Light stood up and walked over to his bed. He sat down.

"Well, so far, she's come up with this Note Blue place out of nowhere, and she's recognized the fact that the second Kira is probably a girl. She's mentioned to me that she can see you, which means she probably has a Death Note, and she was the only person to show her face to the cameras in front of Sakura TV that didn't die the night the first Kira tape was broadcasted. It's either all a strange coincidence, or she's the second Kira. I know L only let me on the team out of suspicion against me, but it might be possible he did the same with her."

"If you go and the other Shinigami sees you, then he might tell the second Kira who you are. Do you want him to know?"

"There's still enough time before the twenty-second for me to think about it," Light said, lying down. "If that Katherine girl is the second Kira, then it'll be hard to get rid of her. She doesn't seem like she would be, though. With as much as she hates Kira, it's hard to believe that could be an act."


Matsuda, Yagami, Aizawa, L, and Katherine were still left at headquarters, going over the plans. Katherine, who hadn't slept for the past week and a half, was drinking a soda to keep her awake. Falling asleep in the middle of a meeting would have been a little juvenile. She was still somewhat spaced, just barely able to focus on the plans. She snapped back into focus durring the conversation about the plans for Aoyama and Shibuya.

"Hey," Matsuda said to Katherine. "Didn't you say you have spies? If they're used to this, why don't we use them as back-up?"

"I'm going to be firing them soon," she said, trying to keep her voice nonchalant. "It's nothing against them at all. They're good spies, but… seeing as they're my friends... It's just too dangerous. If either of the two who weren't accused of murder die, by the way, then I'll have a good idea of who Kira is."

"How so?" Yagami asked.

"Because the people on this team are the only people in Japan who have any idea of who they are," she said. "And out of the people on this team, the only person who knows even the alias of one of them is Light."

"So you suspect my son as well."

"I've suspected your son since I started working on the case," she said. "He was one of the people Raye Penber was investigating. No one else he tailed fit the role better."

"We set up surveillance in their house," Aizawa said. "Every single angle was covered, how could he have done anything with us watching him? He only watched the news once the whole week, and people were still dying."

"He could have outwitted you," Katherine said. "I don't suspect him much, but I will suspect him if one of my friends is killed without a picture being put up on the news."

"You won't suspect him if the one who's accused of murder dies?" Matsuda asked.

"No," she said with a sigh. "If the police see him, his picture will be put on the news. The person who framed him was a serial killer, and a rather brutal one at that. So, he's definitely in the greatest danger from Kira, I won't come to any conclusion if he dies.

"Can we get back to talking about the plans now?" Katherine said.

Everyone agreed, allowing her a bit of relief. She didn't want to have to smoke again. She had quit because she was doing it too much in the first place, but now she needed it. That hadn't been something she had ever expected. It did calm her nerves, however, and that was something she needed, given the situation. She was definitely grateful she hadn't received the call she'd been dreading from her friends, but it made her all the more apprehensive about it. She had told those three she didn't want them getting involved in the case in the first place, but they had insisted. She felt it was her fault for allowing them to help her. If she hadn't, then she would be in Japan alone, with no one else's safety to have to worry about. This made it a lot more stressful. Keeping calm was going to start to get a lot harder.